Comm No 0035.34 - Testimony - CA-18 - PONC Maintenance fund

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From: Megan Lamson <meg.HWF@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 7:17 AM To: Charter Commission Subject: HWF comments for County Charter Commission Meeting - June 7th 4 June 2019 Dear Charter Council members, Many thanks for this opportunity to once again share these comments on the PONC program, and our support of these two proposed charter commission amendments (CA -9 and CA - i8). The Hawai'i Wildlife Fund (HWF) team appreciates your time and dedication and volunteer service in supporting this process! The PONC program has been a successful model in how the government and community can work together to protect and conserve natural / cultural resources, wilderness, and open space for generations to come on Hawai'i Island. The following two proposed amendments would only serve to strengthen the efficiency and efficacy of this program, both in securing new properties, and in ensuring proper resources / capacity are allocated towards staff (both within the County directly and indirectly through stewardship efforts of local NGOs). We support the following proposed changes for CA -9: "Pay for the salary, wages and benefits of one full-time staff member, employed by the Department of Finance dedicated only to advancing administering the activities contained within this section and Section 10-16 of this charter. This is in addition to a staff person provided for in the Hawaii County Code to assist the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission." A full-time staff person would be better able to expedite funding, maintain proper communications with stewardship and community groups, and finalize more land acquisitions in the future. We wholeheartedly support this proposal. And also support the proposed changes for CA -i8: "An officer, board member or employee of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization or the organization that operates under the umbrella of a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization may receive compensation for duties that are delineated in the approved stewardship grant proposal." For example, in the PONC stewardship award that was received by HWF for restoration activities conducted at Kawa ($13,200.00 County award) during 2017-18 over 13% of the total project costs (— $43,500) was spent to pay part-time personnel and contractors for project -related activities. These expenses were incurred by HWF using other available funds and not covered by the PONC award. Although the bulk of the work was conducted by community volunteers (representing an estimated $24,000.00 in-kind value or 55% of the total project costs) this work would not have been possible without the support and dedication of several paid staff. In the future, we would be more likely to apply for PONC stewardship funding to support restoration efforts if some limited amount of staff / contractor support was available. 1 Comm. No. 35.34